as in brawl
a rough and often noisy fight usually involving several people
a verbal disagreement at the football game soon turned into a general melee involving scores of spectators
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of melee
For a brief 20-minute demo, I was exposed to a ton of depth in the at-first simple melee combat system.
—
David Jagneaux, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2025
But after Saturday’s melee, and then Monday’s walk-through, the Panthers were due for some physicality.
—Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 19 Aug. 2025
Hutch screams at thugs during a four-on-one melee, and the irony is only flesh-wound deep.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 14 Aug. 2025
Hermit gets knocked around in the melee, first by the monster and then by its would-be captor, the mysterious Maginot cyborg Morrow.
—Noel Murray, Vulture, 13 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for melee
David Jagneaux, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2025
But after Saturday’s melee, and then Monday’s walk-through, the Panthers were due for some physicality.
—Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 19 Aug. 2025
Hutch screams at thugs during a four-on-one melee, and the irony is only flesh-wound deep.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 14 Aug. 2025
Hermit gets knocked around in the melee, first by the monster and then by its would-be captor, the mysterious Maginot cyborg Morrow.
—Noel Murray, Vulture, 13 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for melee
Recent Examples of Synonyms for melee
Noun
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Setting aside the brewing shutdown brawl, allowing the subsidies to go by the way side could also be politically untenable for certain vulnerable Republicans and tee up voter backlash in next year’s midterms.—
Ramsey Touchberry,
The Washington Examiner,
5 Sep. 2025
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Inter Miami players Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Tomas Aviles, and Seattle Sounders staff member Steven Lenhart, received multiple game suspensions from the 2026 Leagues Cup as punishment for their behavior during a post-game brawl following Sunday’s Leagues Cup final.—
Michelle Kaufman,
Miami Herald,
5 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Still one of the NFL’s nastiest division rivalries, the game was full of skirmishes and a near-costly unnecessary roughness penalty late in the third against the Eagles that put the Cowboys in position to take the lead.—
Dan Gelston,
Chicago Tribune,
5 Sep. 2025
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Ideological skirmishes over the motives and obligations of Carpenter’s music include both sincere interrogation of its feminism and smirking counteractive reprisals to that scrutiny.—
Craig Jenkins,
Vulture,
3 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Melee.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/melee. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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